She Works Hard for the Money!

OK, so maybe that title isn't exactly true but I am excited that I am once again employed!  I am very blessed to have been hired as a Teacher's Assistant at a small Christian school in Oxford.  I am working with mostly 5-year olds which is exactly what I was hoping for.  I only work on Monday and Thursday afternoons, which still gives me plenty of time to do all my fun stuff.  The school is extremely small, with only about 70 students ranging in age from 3 to 11.  The school's main building is in an old Victorian schoolhouse that dates back to 1838.  During my first few minutes of my initial visit to the school, several girls were quite concerned that I didn't talk like them.  Yes, my Texas drawl can even be detected by a busy 5-year old.

My new school

I've never taught in a Christian school before, so it has been quite an adjustment.  It is so different to pray openly during the day, to have every bulletin board centered around God, and to have the Nativity as the Christmas program.  As I was thinking about my "Christian experiences" in the classroom, I was reminded of a couple of my previous students that would fit right in at my new school.

My first year of teaching I had a little girl in my class that I absolutely loved.  She was a preacher's kid (PK) that always had a "Jesus answer" for any discussion we were having.  She would run into the cafeteria every Wednesday morning proclaiming that she had on her Jesus shirt because it was church night.  She was a true joy!  One morning all the children were doing their morning work as I roamed the classroom.  I came to PK's seat and she was coloring instead of doing her work.  I told her to finish her work and then she could color.  She agreed and starting working on her handwriting.  As I came around again, I noticed that she had quite cleverly used her work as a "cover" to continue coloring.  I asked what she was doing...."working," she said.  I told her that that was funny, because I saw her coloring again.  Again, I warned her (in my stern teacher voice) to "do your work first and then you can color".  She continued with her work and I continued my walk around the room.  When I came to her again...you guessed it...she was coloring.  I asked if she had finished her work, she said she had, so I checked.  To my surprise, it was not finished.  PK had lied, again.  We had a chat about telling the truth and doing our work when we were supposed to.  PK was sent to time out to think about the good choices she was going to make.  She had just got into the time out chair when I heard her mumbling...I went closer to investigate and this is what I heard -  "Dear Jesus, I'm sorry I was coloring. I will do my work.  I'm so sorry Jesus."  So I leaned down and asked if everything was OK.  She said, "I was just telling Jesus I was sorry."  Priceless!

This past year I had a kindergartner that I referred to as the "Evangelist."  On a daily basis, he would bring his Bible to school (or another book about Jesus) and beg me to read it.  We sang a lot in my classroom and he was by far the loudest singer.  Quite often during seat work, the Evangelist would burst out in song...usually his daily praise would be 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' or 'Amazing Grace.'  Pretty soon he would have the entire class singing.  I know anyone walking down the hall probably thought we were having a revival in Mrs. Harrell's room!

I can't wait to see what stories I will be telling after this year...stay tuned!